


Colors

by nana_banana



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Angst, Blindshipping, Canon Compliant, Gen, M/M, Puzzleshipping, Soul Mate AU, Violetshipping, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 11:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3894574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nana_banana/pseuds/nana_banana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Card games and danger, but Yuugi Mutou only wants to know who his soulmate is.<br/>Based on this prompt on tumblr:<br/>"The one where you only see color once you meet your soulmate (so you don’t know them until you touch them), and it goes away when they die."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colors

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a prompt on tumblr and it's one I've heard a lot about. The soulmate AU where you live life in black and white until you see your soul mate. I decided to use it, only in this one, it's only when you physically touch your soul mate that you get your colors.  
> I'd like everyone to know that I have not actually seen the fifth season of Yu-Gi-Oh! and apologize for mistakes (but know that I will not change them. It's just a drabble after all).  
> So here's a quick, small ficlet about it. Enjoy.

Colors.

Yuugi Mutou did not have them. For Yuugi, life was black, white, and many shades in between. His bland world was devoid of the brilliant, various hues he had grown up hearing about, but never understood. After all, how could you describe color to a person who had never seen it? He had hoped that his colors would come from Anzu. He had hoped that she would bring color to his world; hoped that she was his soul mate.

It was not often when it happened, but sometimes, colors were late in arriving. Yuugi had heard tales that it could take a year to see the entire spectrum. But as time went on, his world continued to be various shades of black, white, and gray, and he had to admit to himself that Mazaki Anzu was not the one for him.

Neither were his friends, Jounouchi Katsuya, or Honda Hiroto.

And neither was his self-titled rival, Kaiba Seto or even any of his other classmates. No one Yuugi touched was the one made for him; no one he had touched thus far could bring color to his world. It made him anxious and worried that he would have no one. He had heard stories of people who never got their colors at all. That he would live in a world saturated with grays for the rest of his life, the very thought was terrifying.

It made him feel so very much alone. He did not want to be alone.

* * *

When he solved the Millennium Puzzle, he still did not have colors. Though he had wished for them dearly, they were not granted. Even dark, shadow magic could not bring them to him. And, as the spirit within did not have his own body and was not solid in any shape or form, Yuugi could not possibly find out if the spirit was meant for him.

However, as he grew to know his darker self, he could not deny that he felt something there. It was in the air between them. It was in the space between their soul rooms. He could not name it, but he felt it. He felt it when they dueled. His darker self would take over his body and he would feel it clearly for a brief instant, but it would be gone before he could discern what it was. It niggled at the back of his mind and drove him up the wall. He thought it might have to do with his colors, but they never showed. Not a speck of blue, not a splash of red, or even a tinge of yellow made itself known to Yuugi.

* * *

Kujaku Mai did not bring Yuugi color, because she already had her own.

When she had admitted to wishing she did not have it, Yuugi almost set his darker self loose on her in his angry disbelief. He did not understand how someone could deny their soul mate. He could not even begin to comprehend the reasoning behind such a selfish decision. Had he a soul mate, Yuugi would not let them go. He would be unable to. Yuugi knew that he would love them too much. He would treasure them always.

* * *

Otogi Ryuuji was not Yuugi's soul mate and neither was Rebecca Hopkins much to the girl's displeasure. Although, she had not cared in the slightest and declared that she could live without color with him. Flattered, Yuugi had not the heart to let her down, though he had no intention of spending his life with someone who did not bring him his colors.

* * *

Yuugi once spoke to his Yami about colors.

“You can't see colors?” his other self asked him, bewildered and even slightly shocked. He stared at Yuugi as though Yuugi were a puzzle he could not solve. The dark gray gaze burned Yuugi and the niggling at the back of his mind grew worse in that moment.

“No, I haven't met my soul mate yet,” he responded dully, “why do you seem so surprised, other me?”

Yami turned away from him then and seemed hesitant to answer. The niggling lessened to a tolerable degree. Yuugi thought he saw slight fear on his other self's phantom features.

“...I can,” Yami finally responded, his voice subdued and solemn. He looked at Yuugi then and the young boy recognized the sorrow and disappointment in his other's eyes. Though with the spirit's gaze, the bothersome itch had returned, and Yuugi felt too hurt and cheated to care or even try to figure it out. His other self could see colors, but not he? It wasn't fair. Yuugi felt betrayed.

“I thought you could,” the spirit whispered, “because I only see color when I'm you. I thought … I assumed you had found your soul mate already.”

“I would have said,” Yuugi could barely speak through the lump in his throat. His other self had a soul mate in Yuugi's era, Yuugi reasoned. Someone Yuugi knew; someone he had touched.

He thought it could be Anzu, though the girl had not mentioned being able to see color. He thought maybe Anzu was hiding it from him, unwilling to hurt his feelings. The girl did like his other self, after all. Or, possibly, only Yami had gotten color since Anzu could technically not touch him. It made sense. Though either way, it was like a stab in the back.

It hurt, though Yuugi eventually learned to ignore it. He would be happy for them, happy for his other self. He could not be bitter about someone else finding their soul mate. Yuugi refused to be that type of person.

So Yuugi had forced a smile and congratulated the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. He had even set up a date for them both.

* * *

Ishizu, Mariku, and Rishido did not bring color to Yuugi's grey world, though Yuugi accidentally found out that Kaiba had brought color to Jounouchi's since Duelist Kingdom. His friend had unwittingly commented on Kaiba being as cold as the ice like Kaiba's apparently ice blue eyes. And once the cat was out of the bag, Jounouchi had confided in Yuugi.

He had explained that the colors had come on slow and it had taken a while for Jounouchi to realize that it had been Kaiba to bring him the color in the first place. For the longest time, Jounouchi had thought Mai had been The One, until Battle City when they had found out her colors came from Jounouchi's favorite movie star.

To say Yuugi was shocked was an understatement.

“When I asked, he said he didn't see anything and told me to buzz off,” Jounouchi confessed, “so I ignore it too.”

Yuugi was beginning to understand why someone would reject their soul mate. He no longer felt hostile towards Mai for abandoning her own. He was beginning to understand that sometimes, your soul mate is not who you wanted it to be.

But Yuugi still wanted his. He swore he would not walk away from his. He would love them and accept them. Yuugi would never let them go.

* * *

Trapped by Dartz, Yuugi did not see much of anything, much less color.

When his Yami managed to save him, Yuugi thought Anzu the luckiest person in the world to have Yami as her soul mate and he was sorry that they could not be together. He was also filled with guilt and dismay when he realized that he was jealous, but not of Yami. He was jealous of Anzu. Yuugi had discovered tender feelings for the other him.

Alarmed, he shoved that jealousy and every feeling that came with it to the depths of his mind and ignored them. He could not feel such things for his other self. Yami already had a soul mate and it was not him. He could not interfere with that.

And Yuugi was content to ignore the small burgeoning crush on his other self. He figured it would go away. He thought it would diminish into nothing eventually. There was no way that it would make a great impact in his life. Yuugi would not allow it to.

So Yuugi had gone on, abstractedly admiring his other self, enjoying his time with Yami. It was innocent and Yuugi did not see the harm in it. He would not be acting on his feelings, after all. He unknowingly let them slip out of the box he had tucked them into at the back of his mind. The feelings had trickled to the front without his knowledge and they had steadily grown.

* * *

Millennium World came and went and soon the Ceremonial Battle was upon them and Yuugi was standing next to Atemu, uniquely separated for the very first time.

The bothersome itch at the back of his mind nearly became unbearable.

They dueled and sometime during the battle, Yuugi was abruptly struck by the immense weight of the feelings he had thought he locked away. They clamored for his attention, making his heart race with panic. He had fallen somehow; he was in love. It bothered and distracted him from the duel, and Yuugi very much wished he could throw in the towel and lose the game on purpose.

Soul mate or not, Yuugi did not want Atemu to go. The ancient spirit meant too much to Yuugi.

He could not win. He did not want to be without him. Yuugi was prepared to lose until he remembered that Atemu did not belong with him in his world. Atemu belonged in the afterlife. Atemu deserved to rest, to be free.

Yuugi knew he was crying by the wet feeling on his cheeks when he ordered his final attack. Victorious, he fell to his knees and he cried and sobbed and Atemu touched him for the very first time. The itch under his skin vanished. The feeling of Atemu's hand on his shoulder was warm, yet it did nothing to ease to ache in Yuugi's heart. Atemu was going to leave him and Yuugi was powerless to stop it.

Although he was sad and heartbroken, Yuugi put up a front for Atemu. He did not want his other half to worry about him. Yuugi wished Atemu luck and smiled for the person who had been at his side for so long. He tried his best to memorize Atemu's face, his eyes clinging to every feature, every gesture. It would be the last time he ever saw Atemu, and Yuugi would hold the memory of him in his heart to last him for the rest of his days.

He watched as Atemu left his side, his heart aching in his chest in protest, thudding harshly against his ribcage. Yuugi had to steel himself to keep from running after him. He had to let Atemu go.

When Atemu's clothes changed, indigo cloak billowing out behind him, Yuugi felt his heart wrench in his chest and he felt new tears begin to form in his eyes. His hand gripped at his shirt where the puzzle used to be and then, in the moment before Atemu vanished into the light, Yuugi felt his world stop spinning.

All the breath left his body and his eyes zeroed in on the _blue_ cloak at Atemu's shoulders.

Yuugi's heart stuttered and his knees felt weak.

“No,” he breathed and Atemu vanished beyond the light. The sight finally forced movement into him and Yuugi raced for the closing doors. He had promised. He had sworn to himself. For so long he had said that he would not let his soul mate go. So Yuugi ran like his very life depended on it.

His friends cried out in alarm behind him, but Yuugi was too far ahead to be held back now. He ran in a sudden, dizzying swirl of color and the doors were still closing. He was not fast enough. He screamed as the golden doors shut before him and pounded on them in his agony.

“NO!” he cried and he fell to his knees for the second time that night. “NO!” he wailed at the dimming, gold surface. “NO!” he sobbed wretchedly as he clung to the hard, unfeeling, grey thing before him.

“...please, no,” he whimpered as the dust settled around him, his pale grey hand pressed weakly against the cold stone in defeat.

His world was black and grey without Atemu.

Colors.

Yuugi Mutou did not have them and now he never would.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't hate me. I'm scared to ask for reviews, but review? (I'm so sorry.)  
> *edit*  
> Btw, I dunno if anyone noticed, but Yuugi thought of Yami as his other _self_ until Yuugi realized he was in love with Yami and finally thought of him as his other _half,_ you know, before he even knew that Yami was his soul mate.
> 
> I just really wanted you to notice that. So if you had, awesome. If you hadn’t, you’re welcome.
> 
> Follow me on twitter [@nanadanonini](https://twitter.com/nanadanonini)! I post writing updates, life tidbits, line excerpts, and more! It's also great to let y'all know if I'm delaying a chapter update! You can also interact with me. ♡


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